CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
When I look back at my school notebooks from high school and college, there are pasture scenes in the margins of my statistics calculations, my favorite song lyrics surrounding my WW2 notes, and the most intricate ball-and-stick model of glucose you have ever seen adorning my chemistry lab report.
Creativity, even in the form of small doodles throughout the day, has always been a part of me as I am sure is the case for the majority of people.Yet as I left school and no longer had numerous notebooks lying around for every subject I was learning, so too was gone one of my smallest but most therapeutic creative outlets.
When the pandemic started, however, I purchased a few journals and being able to sit down to write my thoughts, a few lines of a poem, or make some sketches for even just a few minutes a day has really helped me with my creativity and mental health.
Today, I wanted to share why you too should begin journaling, and several journal ideas to get you started. But before we begin, check out The Poetry Cove’s very own journal here!
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WHY JOURNALS ARE SO HELPFUL
Keeping journals does not only provide you with an invaluable record of all of your thoughts, feelings, and ideas throughout the years, but it provides you with a way of compartmentalizing and expressing your thoughts that you can later use as a starting point for poetry or art. Whenever I want to sit down to write something, I flip through older pages of my poetry journal and see if I have written down any lines or phrases that I can use to make a completed poem. My poetry journal also allows me to keep all of my ideas in one place that I can reference at any time, and writing them down ensures I won’t forget any.
From a mental health perspective, journaling has been shown to be extremely helpful as well, even if you only do it a few minutes a day or once a week. Taking a few moments to reflect on your thoughts and really observe them rather than letting them pass is a great way to better come in touch with your feelings and deepen your understanding of yourself.
Sitting down with a pen and paper as opposed to with your keyboard, is also a great way to relax as it forces you to slow down in our fast-paced world, and there is just something kind of special about writing with your favorite pen in a beautiful journal.
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POETRY JOURNAL IDEAS
To maybe inspire you to start a Journal (or two) of your own, I have made a list of several journal ideas for you.
Ideas journal: In this journal, you can keep a list of any poetry ideas, themes, or lines that come to mind, and begin drafting your poetry in.
Poetry art journal: In this journal, you can combine poetry that you have already written with an art form of your choice such as drawing or painting. You can see a flip-through of my poetry art journal below!
Completed poems journal: For this one, you can splurge on a beautiful journal of your choosing, and write all of your completed poems as a way of creating a special, hand-written edition book of all your poetry. You can share this with your friends or family or even sell it to a lucky lover of your work once you make it big!
Mixed media journal: A mixed media journal consists of cutouts from books, magazines or newspapers arranged on a page combined with your own writing, art, flowers, photographs, and basically any other kind of adornments you can think of.
Inspiration journal: In an inspiration journal, you can create mood boards for different feelings that you can later look back on to help you get into a creative mood, as well as keep lists of authors and poetry that inspire you.
A poem a day journal: This is exactly what it sounds like! Get a journal and challenge yourself to write one poem a day until all of the pages are filled up. If this sounds like a daunting task, start off with a short journal that doesn’t have many pages and see if you can fill it!
Dream/ thought journal: In this journal, you can write down your dreams (that you remember) and write what you did that day and how you felt. You can later use these entries as prompts or ideas for poetry.
FLIP THROUGH OF MY POETRY ART JOURNAL VIDEO
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Really great article, Sophie. Quite a lot to think about and some interesting ideas and suggestions. Thanks and I'll definitely think about trying this.
Great post, thank you Sophie.🙏
A lot of interesting reflections, and ideas here...😁
I never thought of using a journal to record ideas, mostly I try to record them quickly on my phone before they run away...
I also very. much like the idea of a poetry art journal, I started something in the vein a few month back, a scrap book with poetry lines and a few illustrations and drawings. maybe I should fish it out...
anyway, thanks for the inspiration. Have a great day.
your garden looks amazing. What a space to experience everyday to inspire your writing and painting
I remember watching your video on Youtube and it really got me into writing in a journal of my own. I haven't been able to spend as much time on it as I'd like to but your video prompted me to begin journaling my thoughts. All these different journal ideas are great!! As always, wonderful post Sophie x
"Whenever I want to sit down to write something, I flip through older pages of my poetry journal and see if I have written down any lines or phrases that I can use to make a completed poem." This is solid advice! I will use this method when I feel a lack of inspiration for a poem.
I actually have a beautiful journal I received as a gift from my uncle so I should really put it to some good use <3 My only challenge is not being able to decide which kind of journal I want to turn it into :P I guess when in doubt, incorporate them all.
Wonderful as always, Sophie!